


Unhealthy Relationships

by HighVoltageConjunx



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Blood and Gore, Body Modification, Dismemberment, Dysfunctional Relationships, Other, Personifications, everyone is hurting, implied abuse for some of the pairings, unusual anatomy for non-humans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-10-22 12:54:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10697424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HighVoltageConjunx/pseuds/HighVoltageConjunx
Summary: 1. "She belongs only to Veers - his hallucination, his delusion, his messed-up way of thinking."2. “I’m quite real,” the woman chuckles. “Thousands of times more real than you are.”





	1. Veers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EustaceS](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EustaceS/gifts).
  * A translation of [Нездоровые отношения](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/285804) by GreenBlush. 



> A quick heads-up: some bits of this story may be really unpleasant (see tags) and I apologize in advance for any mistakes. Feedback is always welcome!

“General, prepare your troops for a surface attack,” Vader orders.

The woman behind Veers’ shoulder bows even before he does. Once again he is sure that it's her whom Vader addresses - Veers gave her this name, “General”. It was the first thing that came to mind, and nothing better occurred to him after that.

But surely nobody can see her. General belongs only to Veers - his hallucination, his delusion, his messed-up way of thinking.

“Go on,” she says and gives Veers a push in the back. “Go on, we’re going to win this.”

This is unusual. She doesn’t have a habit of stating the obvious.

There is no one else in the lift. General is facing Veers. They are of the same height, and she doesn’t tear her gaze from his face.

As always, when his life is about to be put in danger, Veers delves into familiar and detached thoughts on whether he should fear death. If he gets killed, then nobody will make sure his son grows up into a decent person. But then again, speaking about family - who knows what happens after death, and that’s a different thought altogether.

He doesn’t even have time to reach the familiar conclusion - that thinking about possible meetings with deceased family members is pointless - when General moves right up to him and states, “This doesn’t matter.”

Her small colorless eyes are squinted, her lips are tightly pressed together.

General’s words are grave, “Your wife was weak. Dying on a vacation, from a silly disease - pathetic. The Empire doesn’t need such people. Forget her.”

His hands are itching to hit her, but it would be useless. General always wins, both when sparring and in outright fights. She is slow and lets his punches get through sometimes, but he might as well be punching an AT-AT. Right now Veers could plant his fist right into that flat nose - and would only scratch his knuckles.

“And if your son strays from the path,” General goes on, even though Veers knows these words by heart, “we’ll kill him, together. We’ll keep ourselves alive, we’ll win and get rid of the traitors.”

***

Standing side by side with Veers in the cockpit of his AT-AT, General takes his hand and clenches her fingers so hard it hurts. Her eyes are wide open. When the first blaster shots come, she starts breathing deeper and faster, the flight suit stretched tight on her chest. Blasts from the attacking speeders light up the cockpit, and General smirks - the armor is strong, they can take much more than this. 

Veers ignores his thoughts on how dangerous it is to take your hallucination to battlefront. General takes deeper and deeper breaths, her cheeks turn pink with excitement.

Veers reports to Vader, tells him to start the landing. General shudders and lets out a weak moan, and right after that she winces, lets go of Veers' hand and grasps her right shoulder. He cannot see anything through the fabric of her flight suit, but knows that her shoulder is dislocated. 

“Blizzard 2,” she barely manages to speak.

The explosion wave reaches them, and General's arm falls to pieces with a screech. Durasteel rips the sleeve above her elbow, and slabs of muscle fall to the floor together with implants. General closes her eyes for a second, grabs her shoulder again and sets it with a nauseating crack.

“No matter,” she snaps. “Keep going!”

Blood is pouring out of her torn sleeve in rivulets, dripping right on the mash of durasteel and flesh on the floor. General looks straight ahead once again, eyes bright, mouth open, cheeks even more pink. Veers can hardly look away.

“Prepare to target the main generator.”  
He doesn't know which one of them says it.

General winces and doubles up, grasping her stomach. Not caring anymore about what others may see, Veers takes her by the shoulders, not letting her fall - but General is steadier on her legs than he is.

“Blizzard 4,” she gasps. A blood stain is spreading on her stomach. ”I’m alright. Keep going!”

Veers cannot let her go. Her belly, one of the few vulnerable places - she only protects her belly when fighting with him, her belly and neck, nothing else. Why is there so much blood?

“I’m no human!” she shouts. “I won’t die! Keep going!”

A few more excruciating minutes, and they reach the target. General is out of breath, and Veers cannot tell if that is from pain or anticipation of their victory.

“Maximum fire.”

General’s eyes are shining red, and Veers looks only at her - her plain face, half-open mouth, a trail of bloody saliva hanging from her lower lip as she moans when the generator blows up.

***

Veers gives his bed to General and makes her lie down - he can no longer watch her limping around or listen to the creaking of servomotors going haywire inside her limbs. She still moves around like her wounds don’t hurt.

Veers takes off her flight suit and looks over the injuries. Her right arm still ends above the elbow, but the wound is already covered by a brownish scab, and the protruding broken bone looks more and more like a piece of armature as time passes. On her stomach, a wide strip of skin is missing, as if cut out by a surgeon's scalpel — wet implants glisten and blood vessels pulse inside the open cavity. Real human insides look nothing like this. Veers wants to bandage her stomach and put more layers on top of the wrapping, anything except this beat-up flight suit, but his clothes are not likely to fit his hallucination - his delusion, his messed-up way of thinking.

Now General has no reprimands for Veers, doesn't shame him for his foolish concern about his wife and son, doesn't tell him what to do. She lies on her back without moving, arms and legs spread wide - they are long, so very long, today someone other that Veers have noticed it, and that observation cost them a lot.

Fingers on General's left, unharmed hand squeeze his wrist. She watches Veers with unconcealed anticipation. Her mouth opens once again, color returns to her cheeks. Veers shakes his head - no matter how non-human she is, her injuries make his skin crawl, both her stomach ripped open and the stump of her arm. Without taking any clothes off, he lies down beside General and embraces her. She is hot to his touch, like a sun-warmed side of an imperial walker.

“You won’t harm me,” she pronounces carefully. “The damage is insubstantial. In any case, I won’t die before you do.”

“Still.”

General is silent for a few moments - only to ask in surprise, “Why are you afraid of these visual parameters?” 

She lifts her right arm.

Veers doesn’t say anything. How can he explain to that spawn of his sick mind that he is certainly not going to fuck a real-life anatomical guide? This hallucination who declared herself a replacement for his wife, son and all his human attachments at once will surely interpret the unwillingness to get rid of such emotions as another weakness.

“Of course,” General answers his thoughts.

But she doesn’t persist.


	2. Piett

She appears after Ozzel’s death.

When the former admiral’s body is taken away, Piett notices a tall person wearing a cape. At the first moment it seems like this person is Vader who somehow transported himself to the bridge through the screen, but the illusion disappears before he can notice any particular details. 

It comes back only when Piett comes to Vader and sees him without the helmet. He can’t help thinking that this sight is not for anyone’s eyes, concludes that Vader must have decided to get rid of his next admiral, tries to understand what he did wrong — all that in a couple of seconds.

“Everything is fine,” a quiet voice says. “We are doing what is required.”

There was nobody else. He came in, the doors closed and nobody could appear after that. Piett doesn’t risk looking behind to find out whose voice that is.

Firm hands in black gloves touch his shoulders. They squeeze gently after Vader’s words on how he’s not interested in excuses. Piett thinks it’s a hallucination Vader has created — but whatever for?

When Vader’s meditation chamber is closing once again, the hands disappear, and Piett expects the illusion to go away, but it doesn’t. His way out is blocked by a woman in black uniform and a crimson cape.

Piett knows - feels - that she is not real.

“I’m quite real,” the woman chuckles. “Thousands of times more real than you are.”

So that is his hallucination. And Piett knows right then what she is supposed to portray. 

***

Piett calls her “Lady”. She doesn’t object. She rarely speaks at all.

Finally, he snaps.

“Are you going to follow me everywhere?”

“Of course. You are always with me, after all.”

Her face seems artificial, designed - her features too regular, her hair arranged too neatly in unnatural, dark gray locks. Yes, of course she was designed. Piett lets out a nervous laugh and shakes his head. The most bizarre thing right now is how he doesn’t even think about going to the medbay and asking for help he apparently requires. 

“Whatever for?” Lady asks, appearing right behind him and touching his nape. “Are we not better this way?”

Her fingers feel real. Piett wants to find out what’s under the gloves, durasteel or some other material, but Lady takes them off, and her warm hand slips under his collar. Of course - with so many living beings aboard, she could be considered one herself. 

***

When Needa’s body is carried away, Piett gets a glimpse of another hallucination. A mournful woman draped in a gray cloak materializes out of thin air. She whispers: “We will avenge him.”

“You are the avenger,” Lady shakes her head. “I am the executor.”

The woman in gray drops her head and disappears.

***

The _Millenium Falcon_ disappears into hyperspace, and Piett freezes right where he is.

Lady appears right behind and embraces him.

“Breathe,” she urges him. “Go on, in and out.”

Her words about breathing just take his mind back to Vader who slowly takes measured steps away from the viewport.

“Everything is fine, I’m here,” Lady doesn’t let go. “You have nothing to fear.”

Piett wants to scream at her — he can probably go right ahead, this kind of behaviour isn’t likely to change anything Vader is going to do.

“Everything is fine,” Lady repeats. “We did what we were supposed to. Everything is right. Everything is fine. There is nothing to fear. We function perfectly. This is not our fault.”

Her voice silences Piett’s thoughts, and the warmth of her hands spreads through the clothes.

Vader walks away without doing anything.

***

Lady undresses him, and Piett cannot understand how this is possible - hallucinations are not supposed to move objects, but nobody else is present and he’s not doing anything. A brief thought about using a camera is swept away — he doesn’t want to know what exactly is going on.

Lady pushes him onto the bed, face down - she strokes his shoulders, pressing down harder and harder. Piett doesn’t manage to ask who taught her this - Lady turns him onto his back and straddles him. Her clothes disappear, leaving only the crimson cape that she uses to cover them both.

Lady seems more and more human, and it’s hard to think about her true nature, but on the back of her neck Piett discovers metallic implants. Right from the hairline, down her neck, curving on the shoulders and running down her arms are long stripes of some scratchy alloy — cold and solid, but bending with her moves. Below her chest is what looks like a see-through corset, just as hard to the touch — transparisteel? Its metallic ribs are longer than the transparent part, sinking into the warm flesh on Lady’s crotch and hips. Piett traces them with his fingers.

“Perfect functioning,” Lady whispers, and her eyes shine with turbolaser fire.

She embraces Piett, all warm skin and cold corset, kisses him and backs off right away, hides her face on his shoulder, guides his hands down — his palm touches the rough bone of the corset, and his fingers sink into the wet warmth. Lady leans on him, raises her head and opens her mouth, not making a sound, just vibrating with her whole body. Pressing Piett to the bed with a shaking, but very heavy hand, she strokes him and sinks down. 

Lady throws back her head — the corset doesn’t let her arch her back. Piett holds on to her hips, sensing that he won’t hurt her, that he won’t leave a single mark on her skin. Lady touches his fingers, but when he tries to set the pace, she clasps them in her hands — so she doesn’t want him to.

“I… I’ll do it right,” she breathes out, and it's absurd, but Piett doesn’t protest — this is fine as well, if only she closed her shining eyes, they’re lifeless, nothing else puts him off - not the implants, not the metal ribs in her flesh, not durasteel, only her eyes scare him...

He comes with his head back and eyes snapped shut, but the green light seems to seep through his eyelids. Lady screams and gives his fingers one last squeeze - it hurts, it really hurts, but he knows she won’t break anything.

***

He wakes up alone, under a blanket instead of Lady’s cape. His clothes are neatly arranged on the side of the bed. On the backs of his hands are a few small bruises, painful to the touch, but nothing is broken - just as he thought. Lady is nowhere to be seen but Piett is sure she will be back. 

_You are always with me, after all._

He entertains detached thoughts on which one of them will be the first to die.


End file.
